How to Share Your Files and Set Folder Permissions in Windows 11 File Sharing

How 🪟 Windows 11 file sharing and file permissions work

Windows applies two separate sets of file permissions to a shared folder. Knowing which is which saves a lot of guessing when someone gets “Access is denied”.

• Share permissions apply only to people who connect over the network. They have three levels: Read, Change and Full Control. You set them in Advanced Sharing.
• NTFS permissions (NTFS is the file system Windows uses on its drives) apply to everyone, whether they sit at the PC or connect remotely. You set them on the Security tab. The levels are Full control, Modify, Read & execute, List folder contents, Read and Write.

If the share permission is Full Control but the NTFS permission is Read, the person can only read. A Deny entry overrides an Allow entry for the same person or group.

🪟 Windows 11 Home vs Pro

Both editions can share folders and set permissions with the steps below. Home has no Local Users and Groups console (lusrmgr.msc), so you create sharing accounts in Settings or with a command instead. Both editions also allow only a limited number of simultaneous incoming connections (20), which matters only if you share with many people at once.

Before you start: prepare your PC for sharing

Sharing fails more often because of network settings than folder permissions. Start by checking these three things.

Set your network profile to Private

Windows blocks file sharing on networks marked Public. Switch your home or office network to Private so Windows allows sharing and network discovery (the feature that lets PCs see each other by name).

1. Open Settings and select Network & internet.

   

2. Select Wi-Fi or Ethernet, depending on how you connect. For Wi-Fi, select the properties entry for your connected network. For Ethernet, select the connection.
3. Under Network profile type, select Private network.

   

The setting applies immediately. You do not need to restart.

Turn on network discovery and file and printer sharing

Administrator required. These switches control whether your PC can be found on the network and whether it answers file requests.

1. Open Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings.

   

2. Select Advanced sharing settings.

   

3. Expand Private networks.

   

4. Turn Network discovery on. Leave Set up network connected devices automatically ticked if it appears.
5. Turn File and printer sharing on.
6. Expand All networks and check Password protected sharing. Leave it on unless you have a specific reason to turn it off.

With Password protected sharing on, anyone who connects must sign in with a user name and password that exists on your PC. This is the safer setting, and the rest of this guide assumes it is on.

Make sure the person has an account on your PC

With password-protected sharing on, each person needs an account on your PC. A Microsoft account works: they sign in with their email address and its password. Windows also blocks network sign-in for accounts with a blank password by default, so the account must have a password.

If you need to create an account, do it from Settings:

1. Administrator required. Open Settings > Accounts > Other users.

   

2. Select Add account and follow the prompts.

Recent Windows 11 builds push you toward a Microsoft account in this dialog. If you want a local account instead, open Terminal (Admin) and run this command. It creates the account and prompts you for a password:

net user USERNAME * /add

The new account has no sign-in tile on your PC unless you add it through Settings. It still works for network access. To delete it later, run net user USERNAME /delete.

Choose the folder to share

Do not share your whole user profile or the root of a drive. Sharing a broad location exposes documents, app data and settings you did not intend to hand out. A dedicated folder also keeps the permissions simple.

Share a folder with specific people

This method is the fastest route: it opens a sharing dialog and sets up access for named accounts.

1. Open File Explorer and right-click the folder you want to share.

   

2. Select Properties. The folder's Properties window opens.

   

3. Select the Sharing tab. Under Network File and Folder Sharing, the folder shows as Not Shared.
4. Click Share.... A window titled Network access opens, headed Choose people to share with.

   

5. Click the drop-down arrow next to the text box, select the person's account, and click Add. If you do not see the account, type the user name and click Add.
6. In the Permission Level column, click the arrow next to the person's name and choose Read or Read/Write. Read lets them open and copy files. Read/Write also lets them add, change and delete files.
7. Click Share. Windows adds the person to the folder's permissions. This step needs administrator approval, so select Yes if a prompt appears.
8. Wait for the message Your folder is shared. It shows the network path, such as \\COMPUTER-NAME\Shared. Click Done.

Send the person that path. They only need it if they cannot browse to your PC by name.

The Share button in the File Explorer toolbar is a different feature. It sends files through apps and nearby devices. It does not set up a network share or any folder permissions.

If the Sharing tab, Share button or Give access to menu is missing or greyed out

• The folder is on a drive or location that cannot be shared. Some locations, such as certain system folders, do not offer sharing. Move the files to a regular folder on a local drive.
• You are not an administrator. Sign in with an administrator account or approve the prompt with administrator credentials.
• File and printer sharing is off. Repeat the steps in "Turn on network discovery and file and printer sharing" above.
• The Sharing Wizard is turned off. Open File Explorer, select the three-dot menu, then Options. On the View tab, under Advanced settings, tick Use Sharing Wizard (Recommended) and click OK.

Set share permissions with Advanced Sharing

Administrator required. Use Advanced Sharing when you want to choose the share name, limit connections or set share-level permissions yourself.

1. Right-click the folder and select Properties.
2. Open the Sharing tab and click Advanced Sharing....
3. Tick Share this folder.
4. Edit Share name if you want a different name on the network. Other people see this name, not the folder's real name.
5. Click Permissions. The Share Permissions tab opens with Everyone listed by default.
6. Select Everyone and click Remove if you want only named accounts to have access.
7. Click Add..., type the account name, click Check Names, then click OK.
8. Select the account in the list and tick Allow for Read, Change or Full Control in the lower box.
9. Click OK on each open window to save.

A practical approach is to give the share-level permission a wide setting for your named users and do the fine control with NTFS permissions on the Security tab. That way you manage access in one place, and the share-level setting never overrides what you set there.

Set NTFS folder permissions on the Security tab

Use the Security tab for the detailed file permissions: who can read, edit, create or delete. These apply to local and network users alike.

Add a person and set what they can do

Administrator required.

1. Right-click the folder, select Properties, and open the Security tab.
2. Click Edit.... The Permissions for window opens.
3. Click Add....
4. Type the account name in Enter the object names to select and click Check Names. Windows underlines the name when it finds a match. If it reports it cannot find the name, check the spelling and make sure the account exists on this PC.
5. Click OK. The account appears in Group or user names.
6. Select the account. In the lower box, tick Allow for the level you want:

   • Read (with Read & execute and List folder contents) lets the person open and copy files.
   • Write lets them create files and folders and save changes.
   • Modify covers reading, writing and deleting. It is the usual choice for a shared work folder.
   • Full control adds the ability to change permissions and take ownership. Give it only to people who manage the folder.
7. Click Apply, then OK.

To change an existing person, select them in Group or user names and change the ticked boxes. To remove access, select them and click Remove.

Use Deny sparingly

A Deny tick beats every Allow, including ones inherited through a group. Denying Write to one person does not simply "remove" write access. It blocks it even if a group they belong to has it. Prefer leaving a person off the list over using Deny. Reserve Deny for the rare case where you must block someone who belongs to a group that otherwise has access.

Understand inheritance before changing subfolder permissions

Subfolders and files automatically inherit permissions from the parent folder. If you give someone Modify on C:\Shared, they get Modify on everything inside it. To give a subfolder different permissions, you break inheritance on that subfolder.

If you remove them, add your own account and the Administrators group back before you close the window.

1. Right-click the subfolder, select Properties, and open the Security tab.
2. Click Advanced. The Advanced Security Settings window opens.
3. Click Disable inheritance.
4. Choose Convert inherited permissions into explicit permissions on this object. This keeps the current entries so you can edit them. Choose Remove all inherited permissions from this object only if you plan to rebuild the list from scratch.
5. Click OK, then use Edit... on the Security tab to adjust the entries.

Check what a person can actually do

Windows can calculate the combined result for you. In Advanced Security Settings, open the Effective Access tab, click Select a user, choose the account, and click View effective access. The list shows which permissions the account has after groups and Deny entries are applied. It reflects NTFS permissions only, so check the share permissions separately on the Advanced Sharing › Permissions tab.

Open the shared folder from another PC

Connect from the second computer to confirm that your permissions behave as intended.

1. On the other PC, open File Explorer.
2. Click the address bar and type \\COMPUTER-NAME\Shared, then press Enter. If the name does not resolve, use the IP address instead, for example \\192.0.2.10\Shared.
3. Enter the user name and password for the account you added. For a Microsoft account, use the email address, such as user@example.com.
4. Tick Remember my credentials if you want Windows to store them, then click OK.

The folder's contents open. Create a test file. If you gave Read access only, Windows refuses, which confirms the permission works.

To find your PC's name, open Settings > System > About and read Device name.

Map the share to a drive letter

Mapping gives the folder a permanent drive letter on the other PC so it is always one click away.

1. In File Explorer on the other PC, select This PC.
2. Select the three-dot menu in the toolbar, then Map network drive.
3. Choose a Drive letter and type the path in Folder, for example \\COMPUTER-NAME\Shared.
4. Tick Reconnect at sign-in and, if the account differs from the one signed in to this PC, tick Connect using different credentials.
5. Click Finish.

Share with everyone on the network using the Public folder

The C:\Users\Public folder is a built-in shared location. Use it only for files you are happy for anyone on your network to see. Windows controls it with a setting, not with per-user permissions.

1. Administrator required. Open Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Advanced sharing settings.
2. Expand All networks.
3. Turn Public folder sharing on.

Files you place in the Public folder are now available to people on your network. Turn the setting off again to stop sharing it.

Fix common sharing and access errors

"Network path was not found" (error 0x80070035)

The other PC cannot find yours. Try the IP address in place of the computer name. If the IP address works, name resolution is the problem. Confirm both PCs are on the same network and that Network discovery is on for both. If neither works, check that your PC's network profile is Private and that no third-party firewall is blocking file sharing (it uses TCP port 445).

"You do not have permission to access" or "Access is denied"

The connection works but the account lacks rights. Check both layers. Open Advanced Sharing > Permissions and confirm the account has at least Read under share permissions. Then open the Security tab and confirm the account has an NTFS permission. If you recently added the person to a group, they may need to disconnect and sign in again before the change takes effect.

Windows keeps asking for a password or uses the wrong account

Windows may have saved old credentials. On the connecting PC, open Control Panel > Credential Manager > Windows Credentials, remove the entry for your PC, and connect again.

"Your organization's security policies block unauthenticated guest access"

Windows 11 refuses guest connections that use no sign-in. This is intentional. Create a user account on the sharing PC and connect with it, as described above. Do not re-enable insecure guest sign-in to get around the message.

The Server service is not running

If the shares do not appear at all, open Services, find Server, and check that Status shows Running and Startup Type is Automatic. Administrator required to start it. Right-click Server and select Start.

Permission changes do not seem to apply

New permissions apply to new connections. A person who is already connected may keep their old access until they disconnect or sign out of their PC. You do not need to restart your PC after changing share or file permissions.

Stop sharing a folder or undo permission changes

Administrator required. You can reverse any step in this guide.

1. To stop sharing the folder, right-click it, select Properties, open the Sharing tab, click Advanced Sharing..., clear Share this folder, and click OK. The folder is no longer reachable over the network, and its files are unchanged.
2. To remove one person's access, open the Security tab, click Edit..., select their name, click Remove, and click OK. Also remove them under Advanced Sharing > Permissions if you added them there.
3. To reset a folder to inherit permissions from its parent, open Security > Advanced and click Enable inheritance if the button is available.
4. To see everything you share, open Terminal and run net share. Shares ending in $, such as C$, are hidden administrative shares that Windows creates itself. Leave them alone.

If this didn't work

If the other PC still cannot open the folder, connect with the IP address, for example \\192.0.2.10\Shared. A successful connection by IP address but not by name points to network discovery, not file permissions. If a sign-in prompt appears but the credentials fail, recheck that the account has a password and exists on the sharing PC. Once access works, map the share to a drive letter so you do not have to type the path each time.